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Five Things We Learned From Monday's Media Availability

Chiefs President Mark Donovan, Head Coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes met with the media on Monday afternoon

Kansas City Chiefs President Mark Donovan, Head Coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes met with the media on Monday afternoon.

Here are five things that stood out.

President Mark Donovan

1. Opening statement on encouraging fans to prepare accordingly for Thursday Night Football:

"We're really looking forward to Thursday night and another Arrowhead experience and just how special they are. It's a great opportunity for us to celebrate what's special about this town, about our fans, about this city and about our venue and our team. There's a lot going on Thursday night. It is our Legends Game, so we're very excited to bring Tony Gonzalez back, induct him in to the Ring of Honor and the Chiefs Hall of Fame. We'll have a lot of our alumni here for the game. It's also, as you know, the [only] game on Thursday night. The world will be watching us and the opportunity to just showcase what's so special about Arrowhead. We're looking forward to that.

"Having said that, it is a Thursday night and I've sat up here before and talked about how Thursday nights are a little different. This is actually our first weeknight primetime game of this season. It's the first time our fans are going to realize, again, that rush hour is going to happen right about the same time as the commute out to Arrowhead. We're once again asking everyone to take a few steps and just get prepared for Thursday night. First and foremost, have a plan. Go to our website, chiefs.com/parking - it's got a bunch of details. Take a look at your map, figure out if there are alternate routes because of rush hour. You've seen the photos, we'll have some additional photos of what a typical Thursday night looks like at the intersection of I-70 and I-435 - it's rush hour. Add stadium traffic to that and it can be significant. What we're trying to do is just get everyone prepared. If you can take an alternate route, please try to take an alternate route. If you're not coming to the stadium - if you're going to watch the game at home - think about your timing and if you can avoid this area. It would be good for you and for the fans who are coming out to Arrowhead.

"A couple other key points I just want to hit. Get your parking pass. It does work, I know we've sort of hit the message pretty hard over the last couple years. Parking passes make it more efficient to get here, it costs you less money, you get through the toll booths quicker and everybody's experience is enhanced by that. We will open the gates at 2:30 p.m., so our typical five hours prior to kickoff, so you'll have plenty of time get here before 2:30 and get ready in line for the toll booths. I do want to thank Markl Johnson and Marcus Slaughter from MoDOT and KC Scout [Department], who are with us today, not only for their support in this effort -they're already out with social media to enhance this effort - but also just year-round. It seems like every single game-weekend that there is something, whether it's construction, an accident, an overturned vehicle or traffic. They really work with us in real-time to make the experience as good as it possibly can be for our fans. We appreciate that.

"Our idea here is to continue to provide information, provide access to information and to enhance fans' experience. Hopefully, we can all work together to make the commute in as good as it possibly can be, and then, kickoff a really special evening at Arrowhead."

Head Coach Andy Reid

2. What's your reaction to the no-look pass by Mahomes?

REID: "I worked real hard with him on that. I built that right into the offense (*laughs*). He has a knack for that. He's comfortable doing it. This is the NFL and he's doing it. That's something to do it in practice, but then you start throwing it in a game and then a game against the number one defense in the National Football League, that's a little different. You have to have tremendous confidence in what you're doing there. He did a nice job with it. He actually froze the guy. When you really look at what effect it had on the defense, there was a guy right underneath the route. I would have liked to interview that guy right at the point. That is a tough bind. How do you go explain that to your coach? He was looking over here, but he threw it over here. They are going to think you're crazy. But it worked."

3. What can you update us with Eric Berry?

REID: "He was getting better as the week went on. We will just see how it goes here the next couple days. There's a chance. I am literally going to keep taking this day-by-day. We will just see how the thing goes. It is nothing effort-wise or want to, that is the last thing that ever crosses your mind with this guy. It is killing him not to be out there, but at the same time, you want to be smart with it. I know he would like to play in the game."

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes

4. Can you describe what goes into a no-look pass and is it really a no-look pass or are your eyes shifting?

MAHOMES: "It's pretty much a no-look pass. It's something that happens - I've just kind of started doing that as I got into the last years of my college career. I was looking and I saw D-Rob [Demarcus Robinson] about to come open and I needed to move the safety over to the right, so I just trusted that D-Rob was going to be there and I put it out there. He made a great play on it."

5. With Kelvin Benjamin getting here, how do you go about trying to develop chemistry with him in a short period of time?

MAHOMES: "It's going to take work - a lot of work. You have to go out there and throw routes with him, see how he likes the throws to him and where he wants the ball placement and everything like that. You want to make sure he's on the same page with you and the timing and stuff that quarterbacks and receivers need. Just from throwing with him this last week, he has a ton of talent. You could throw the ball out of the stadium and he's going to catch it. You just have to build that trust with him as the rest of the season goes on and he will be a great asset to this team."

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